Slow Cooker Apple Butter Rice Pudding

Creamy, comforting rice pudding is jazzed up with apple butter & chunks of fresh apple in this easy to make Slow Cooker Apple Butter Rice Pudding...

Since a good, home cooked risotto happens to be my favorite savory adult comfort food, then a creamy rice pudding has to be my ultimate sweet comfort food. But rice pudding wasn't a comfort food that I came to love as a child. Now my mama made this great quick version of rice pudding with a little leftover rice mixed with melted margarine & sprinkled with cinnamon & sugar. 

But the first time that I tried an honest for goodness homemade rice pudding was when I baked up a batch myself a few years after moving out of my parents' house. Yes, making rice pudding from scratch equals adulting when you are in your earlier 20's. ;) And thus began my love affair with creamy, comforting rice pudding.

But the thing with most homemade rice pudding recipes is that they require both stove top cooking & oven baking and thus twice the dirty dishes. Is it worth the extra effort and dish washing? Yes! 

But I knew there had to be a better way to whip a homemade rice pudding recipe that I would love without all the extra steps. My solution? The slow cooker- duh! ;) 

You literally just dump everything in, mix, and let the slow cooker do the rest. Now I jazzed up the basic rice pudding with spicy apple butter and chunks of fresh apple for this Slow Cooker Apple Butter Rice Pudding I am sharing with you all today, but you could leave out the apple flavors for a classic creamy rice pudding (just increase the cinnamon to a 1/2 teaspoon)... 

Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding

This velvety and creamy slow cooker-baked Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding is a lightened-up version of a traditionally decadent dessert...

I adore a good, creamy bread pudding. But what I don't adore is all the egg yolks and cream that is in traditional baked bread pudding. Especially when you are trying to make some healthier changes to your eating.

That is why I was thrilled to come across this recipe for Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding in my copy of American Test Kitchen's Healthy Slow Cooker Revolution that I received in the mail the other day! :)

After perusing hundreds of recipes for soups, chicken, pasta, casseroles, and more and being sure to dog-ear my faves, I finally came to the coveted Desserts section of the cookbook. There are 16 better-for-you dessert recipes there, folks. And all of them are made in your slow cooker!

This creamy Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding really caught my eye (and my sweet tooth!), and I knew I had to give it a try for myself. The results were absolutely delicious. From the perfectly cooked, creamy bread pudding itself to the ooey-gooey chocolate chips- this is bread pudding perfection, folks...